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Obama vows not to seek permanent Iraq bases

Bulk Iraq pullout by mid-2010

AFP, Washington
US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama vowed Monday not to seek permanent US military bases in Iraq and reiterated his pledge to pull out the bulk of US forces by mid-2010.
But he insisted on keeping "a residual force" in the violence-ravaged nation to fight remnants of al-Qaeda for an unspecified amount of time, if he moved to the White House next January.
Writing in The New York Times, Obama, who has been under criticism for allegedly wavering on Iraq, said he would not hold the military or US resources "hostage to a misguided desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq."
He promised that he also "would make it absolutely clear {that we seek no presence in Iraq
similar to our permanent bases in South Korea."
The comments came as the administration President George W. Bush and the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki were trying to strike a status-of-forces agreement to allow longterm US military deployments in Iraq.
Such an accord is seen as crucial because a UN mandate allowing the US military presence in the country expires at the end of the year.
Obama's remarks follow charges he is trying to "flip-flop" on his earlier pledge to end the more than five-year-old Iraq war in the face of Republican criticism that his plan is tantamount to "surrender."
The Illinois senator again rejected the criticism, saying that ending tjie Iraq war was "essential ■ ■—k— - ■■ „ - - —
to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and al-Qaeda has a safe haven."
To help reach these goals, he promised to send at least two addi-tional combat brigades to Afghanistan, where Nato-led forces face increased resistance from a resurgentTaliban.
June was the deadliest month for foreign troops in Afghanistan since 2001 as 49 soldiers from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force and the separate US-led coalition were killed.
The US-led coalition has about 22.000 troops in Afghanistan most of whom are American. By contrast. there are currently 146,000 US troops in Iraq, down from nearly 170,000 at the end of last year.